John Krasinski could never have predicted “A Quiet Place” would bring him into the awards conversation, but Paramount’s campaign for the horror movie has paid off with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Score and a SAG Nomination for Emily Blunt’s performance. Is the Oscars next? Whatever happens, Krasinski already feels like a winner, especially since his breakthrough directorial effort resonated strongly with none other than fellow filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.

Anderson hosted a private screening of “A Quiet Place” for Academy voters and industry folk in December. As Krasinski recently told The New York Times, “I think I’ve only told my wife this, so why not say it in an interview: That was the moment that was the most surreal of all this. He emailed me and said, ‘You need to call me,’ and we talked on the phone and he was so specific and so honest about the movie. He’s been so kind to me through my career, but we were talking like we were on an even playing field and that tripped my wires. What I love most about Paul is that he loves movies.”

Krasinski and Anderson have known each other for quite some time, and the “Quiet Place” actor-director shared with The Times a valuable lesson the Anderson taught him about the only right way to react to seeing a movie. The two men were at Krasinski’s house for his 30th birthday party discussing a movie Krasinski had just seen. Krasinski told Anderson, “It’s not a good movie,” to which the “Phantom Thread” director nicely chastised him.

“He so sweetly took me aside and said very quietly, ‘Don’t say that. Don’t say that it’s not a good movie. If it wasn’t for you, that’s fine, but in our business, we’ve all got to support each other,'” Krasinski said. “The movie was very artsy, and he said, ‘You’ve got to support the big swing. If you put it out there that the movie’s not good, they won’t let us make more movies like that.'”

Krasinski continued, “Dude, Paul Thomas Anderson is out there on the wall for us! He’s defending the value of the artistic experience. He’s so good that maybe you project onto him that he’s allowed to be snarky, but he’s the exact opposite: He wants to love everything because that’s why he got into moviemaking. And ever since then, I’ve never said that I hate a movie.”

“A Quiet Place” is now available on digital HD and VOD platforms. Head over to The New York Times to read Krasinski’s full interview.